Another forum/gallery tweak...

We have updated the NPN forums and IC galleries with a new "divider bar" that separates replies to topics and photos. The old graphic has been replaced with a wider bar that also includes the Flag Topic, Previous Topic, Return to Index, Next Topic and Top of Page links. This handy bar enabled us to remove the links previously used for these functions and provide a cleaner page layout.

The IC galleries are also being modified to include 50 thumbnails per page, up from the previous 40.

We hope the changes enhance your NPN experience!

I saw that today Jim. VERY nice. I had hoped for the 'three triangles' to be added to the bottom of the page at some point, but I think this is much better. Way to go!

Nathan

NPN keeps getting better and better. Thanks Jim.

I like it!

Thanks, Jim!

-PB

I'm sorry to be so blunt Jim but I think these tweaks are extremely visually annoying on the page. To use a photographic metaphor, my eye keeps getting pulled there and distracts me from the seeing the good, necessary stuff on the page. Don't know if this is something I will be able to get used to. There was a certain elegance to the forum design before, especially the image galleries, but to my eye, it's blasted out of the water with this. Sorry, but I just don't like the look or feel the need for this divider bar. They feel like pesky pop up adds to me and having one between each post, seeing maybe three or four at once, is overkill in my opinion. Yuck. I certainly appreciate all the great stuff you do but I can't say that I like this particular change.

Yep, when I logged on I thought I'd done something wrong and I was getting YELLED AT !

Pete D.

Okay, I think I can live with the shrunken version!! I see it's usefulness and it isn't screaming at me anymore....thanks.

Mary and Pete, it may have been the way your browser was loading the table. No changes were made between your posts. Pete, is it still yelling at you?

I'm having the same issue. Ony my notebook it looks great. On the PC the text is HUGE and bold. I cleared the history, cache cookies etc. and still no change. Both computers are running the same version of IE.

Okay. ????? They were about three times as big and bold as they appear now. Must've been my browser (Mozilla) I guess but it looks pretty decent now. I didn't change anything either....funny.

Take a look and see if it YELLS here too -

http://www.carshots.net/forums/ic.cgi?a=vg1

I really like this new bar. Very helpful because I often like to 'return to index' instead of just scrolling thru each. Thanks for the changes!

Jim,

It looks great on Internet Explorer but it's pretty rough on Mozilla Firefox. Firefox displays the bands about 3X wider than Explorer, and as others mentioned, the text is very bold. The text color is not as soft and subdued as in Internet Explorer either.

Kelly

PS Well, isn't that a kick in the pants! I checked on carshots with Mozilla and it looked fine. Upon returning here, the display was the same as in IE. Whatever you've tweaked did the job. I really like the new features!

Jim: I'm running IE and it looks great. 2 thumbs up. >=))>

Looks fine for me at Car Shots. Still screwy here.

The new bar is very useful. However...

Before the change didn't the title get carried into the post from the index as it does in this forum? Can't remember. As I moved through through the image forums today I found myself going back to the index just to see the title.

It does seem the title is getting lost! I like the bar though, it seems to be an improvement.

OK, I'm home now and have looked at this with Mozilla, IE, Netscape and Opera and all appears fine. Can someone send me a screen shot?

Thanks!

It is not yelling now, but I am at a different computer now. It looks very resonable indeed here. THANKS GUYS !

Pete D.

I like it, would like it even more if the Title was visible, find myself going back to the index to see the name of unfamiliar birds.

I find it helpful & it doesn't seem to large or over powering from my view... but it was different not to see a title on images once I click to view them...

Jill :)

The missing photo titles is a bug - we'll have that fixed tomorrow!

It was yelling at me, after reading this I just refreshed the browser and everythings allright.

OK, the photo titles in the IC galleries are restored and we'll track down the style sheet glitch. Thanks to all for your help!

Definitely helpful. No problems here on Firefox 1.5.0.2.
One minor suggestion - having all the icons as right-pointing arrows is a bit confusing and forces the user to read the text rather than go by icons. Perhaps more descriptive icons (left/right/up arrows, small flag etc.) can be added to the next version?

Guy

I like that idea Guy.

Nathan

My only complaint about the new Navigation bar is that it looks klunky and not very artful.

Anyone who was still seeing the oversized bar, please visit any of the IC galleries and see if the issue persists.

Thanks!

It looks the same everywhere I go.

Hmmm. my browser must have refreshed or something because now everything is looking pretty nice.

Mark, thanks. We're having some style sheet issues which make the bar look pretty bad - like this. Hopefully the "ugly big bar" look is fixed for everyone now.

Am I the only one viewing from a Mac?

I'm still getting the fat bar on my Mac G4 with OS X 10.4.6 in Safari, and in Firefox. I get a thin bar when I use Opera. Refreshing has no effect.

On the office Windows box it started out fat and then changed to thin during the day.

Rich, thanks! We'll keep working on this - OK to email you to take a look after we make some adjustments?

BTW, how does it look here?